Status Review Report for Black Abalone Status Review Report for Black Abalone (Haliotis cracherodii Leach, 1814) Glenn VanBlaricom, Melissa Neuman, John Butler, Andrew DeVogelaere, Rick Gustafson, Chris Mobley, Dan Richards, Scott Rumsey, and Barbara Taylor NMFS Southwest Region 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200 Long Beach, CA 90802 January 2009 U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vi Executive Summary ........................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... x 1.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Scope and Intent of Present Document ................................................. 11 1.2 Key Questions in ESA Evaluations ....................................................... 12 1.2.1 The “Species” Question ...................................................................... 12 1.2.2 Extinction Risk .................................................................................... 12 1.3 Summary of Information Presented by the Petitioners ....................... 12 1.4 Summary of New Information Sources-Not Included in the Petition 13 1.4.1 San Nicolas Island ............................................................................... 13 1.4.2 Northern Channel Islands .................................................................. 14 1.4.3 Mainland-North of Pt. Conception, California ................................ 14 2.0 Taxonomy and Species Description ................................................................... 15 3.0 Natural History of Black Abalone ..................................................................... 16 3.1 Population Structure, Distribution, Habitat, and Abundance ........... 16 3.1.1 Historical and Current Distribution ................................................. 16 3.1.2 Population Structure and Genetics ................................................... 17 3.1.3 Depth Range and Patterns ................................................................. 18 3.1.4 Habitat ................................................................................................. 19 3.1.5 Abundance ........................................................................................... 19 3.1.5.1 Fishery-dependent Information .............................................. 19 3.1.5.2 Fishery-independent Information .......................................... 21 3.1.5.3 Summary ................................................................................... 22 3.1.6 Movement ............................................................................................ 23 3.2 Diet ........................................................................................................... 25 3.3 Reproduction ........................................................................................... 26 3.3.1 Fecundity ............................................................................................. 26 3.3.2 Spawning period and length .............................................................. 26 3.3.3 Spawning density ................................................................................ 27 3.3.4 Fertilization ......................................................................................... 33 3.4 Settlement, Recruitment, and Growth .................................................. 34 3.4.1 Settlement ............................................................................................ 34 3.4.2 Larval dispersal distances .................................................................. 36 3.4.3 Recruitment ......................................................................................... 38 3.4.4 Growth rate and maximum size ........................................................ 41 3.5 Mortality .................................................................................................. 44 3.5.1 Competitive interactions and anthropogenic mortality .................. 47 3.5.2 Mortalities associated with disease .................................................... 54 3.5.3 Mortalities associated with foraging sea otters ................................ 58 4.0 Existing Regulatory Mechanisms ...................................................................... 59 4.1 Federal ..................................................................................................... 59 ii 4.1.1 National Marine Fisheries Service .................................................... 59 4.1.2 National Marine Sanctuaries ............................................................. 60 4.2 State/Local ............................................................................................... 61 4.3 International ............................................................................................ 62 5.0 Approaches to Evaluating Risk of Extinction .................................................. 63 5.1 The “Extinction Risk” Question ............................................................ 63 5.2 Factors for Decline .................................................................................. 64 5.3 Available Data ......................................................................................... 64 5.4 Risk Assessment Methods ...................................................................... 67 5.4.1 Trends in Abundance: Summary of Tissot (2007) ........................... 67 5.4.1.1 Results: Fishery data ............................................................... 67 5.4.1.2 Results: Fishery-Independent data ........................................ 68 5.4.1.3 Results: Density and mortality patterns ................................ 69 5.4.2 Assessment of Threats ........................................................................ 72 5.4.3 Assessment of Demographic Risk ...................................................... 77 5.4.3.1 Demographic Risk Criteria ..................................................... 78 5.4.3.2 Risk Matrix Approach ............................................................. 78 5.4.4 Population Modeling: Geographic Spread of Disease and Disease Resistance............................................................................................................. 79 5.5 Overall Risk Determination ................................................................... 81 6.0 Results and Conclusions: Risk Assessment ...................................................... 81 7.0 Results and Conclusions: Risk Determination ................................................. 82 8.0 Significant Portion of the Range of the Species Question ............................... 83 8.1 Approaches to the “Significant Portion of its Range” Question ......... 84 9.0 References ............................................................................................................ 84 iii List of Figures Figure 1. Study sites examined for long-term monitoring data and the presence of black abalone. ........................................................................................................................... 109 Figure 2. Several black abalone within a crevice on San Nicolas Island. Photo taken by Dave Witting (NOAA Restoration Center). .................................................................... 110 Figure 3. Anatomy of an abalone with shell removed. From Cox, 1962. ..................... 111 Figure 4. Geographic distribution of black abalone based on specimen records (after Geiger, 2004). A continuous line shows the range on which most experts agree, broken lines show the range that some authors mention, others do not. Circles indicate specimen records, squares indicate literature record, question marks show a dubious record. Dots in red are new records not published in Geiger (2000), dots in green are from the Australian Museum, Sydney. Map adapted from: http://www.vetigastropoda.com/ABMAP/crac- map.html ......................................................................................................................... 112 Figure 5. Four abalone fishery management zones (I-IV), encompassing 22 fishing cooperatives (1-22), along the Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Adapted from Sierra-Rodriguez et al. 2006. ................................................................... 113 Figure 6. Three of the four National Marine Sanctuaries in California contain black abalone: the Gulf of the Farallones, Monterey Bay, and Channel Islands. .................... 114 Figure 7. Time-series of long-term data sets on black abalone in California. ............... 115 Figure 8. Abalone landings data recorded by the California Department of Fish and Game 1956-1993. ............................................................................................................ 116 Figure 9. Total commercial catch of black abalone by fishery block in California, 1970- 1993................................................................................................................................